How to save water in your home
Discover how small changes to your daily routine can help you save water in your home – and save money on your bills.
We rely on water every day, but our population is growing fast, and climate change is bringing greater risk of floods and drought. All this puts pressure on our water supply and means we have increasingly less water to go around.
Thankfully, just a few small changes to our daily routines really do make a lot of difference. Try these simple tips to save water around your home:
- Take shorter showers - By cutting just one minute off your shower time you can save around 15 litres of water and up to £75 off your energy bills for a family of four.
- Turn the tap off while brushing - Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth and you can save up to 24 litres of water a day. That’s around £15 off your water bill each year.
- Check for a leaking toilet - A leaky loo in your home can waste up to 400 litres of water a day. Find out how you can check if you have a leak, and how to fix it.
In the kitchen
- Fill the dishwasher before you use it - Wait until you have a full load before running your dishwasher or washing machine. By cutting out just one cycle a week you can save up to 14 litres each time.
- Wash fruit and vegetables in a bowl - A running tap wastes up to 15 litres of water a minute. Wash your fruit and vegetables in a bowl of fresh water instead of under a running tap.
In the garden
- We all love our gardens and outside spaces - You can care for your plants and save water at the same time, so why not explore these handy water-saving tips.
Help save water this Winter
- Leaks and bursts are more likely to happen in Winter – As the weather gets colder, make sure you stay safe and warm by getting your home winter-ready
More water-saving ideas
We aim to meet as many of our customers as possible and regularly attend community events.
Find out about our upcoming community events where you can receive free advice and giveaways to help you use water wisely and save money on your bills.
The European Water Label
We've teamed up with DIY retailers, builders' merchants and manufacturers of bathroom fittings to introduce the European Water Label scheme.
The scheme has been launched to help customers find water efficient bathroom fittings such as taps, showers, toilets and baths.
The European Water Label was developed by the Bathroom Manufacturers Association and is operated by The Water Label company.
Click on the image to enlarge
The Label, which began appearing on bathroom products in summer 2014, includes information such as:
- Flush performance of toilets
- Flow rate of taps and showers
- Capacity of baths.
Comparison of water use
It also provides customers with an online database comparing the amount of water being used between similar products and enabling them to compare on a like for like basis.
Search the online database for products
When searching, look for products which score within the green band of the label, as these are the more water efficient products.
For example, taps and showers that use more than 13 litres of water per minute are shown in the red band whereas products using no more than 6 litres per minute are shown in the green band.
Save on your bill
Choosing more water efficient products will help you to save money on your water and energy bill. Nearly a quarter of your energy bill is spent on hot water.
The Label follows a similar approach to the Energy Efficiency Label found on white goods such as fridges and freezers.
Save a little water, make a lot of difference